Report to Readers: A lovely honor (and an unfortunate error)

The Monitor – specifically Ralph Jimenez, our longtime editorial writer – received a terrific honor Sunday evening. Then, on Monday morning, there was a big error in the newspaper – big enough to quickly bring me back down to earth.

First the honor: Jimenez received the annual Bill of Rights Award from the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union at a lovely event in Manchester. He’s in lofty company – recent winners have included Bishop Gene Robinson, UNH School of Law Dean John Broderick (the former state Supreme Court Justice) and a long list of other movers and shakers dating back to 1986.

In introducing the award, Buzz Scherr, chairman of the NHCLU board of directors, talked about the blessing and the curse of living in such a small state. On one hand, he noted, everyone knows everyone. On the other hand, such familiarity can make it difficult to speak out. That, he said, is where newspaper editorialists like Jimenez come in. He called him a man of principle with a consistent, strong voice in New Hampshire for social justice and civil liberties. (Not bad!)

Jimenez gave a great speech about his own parents’ activism on matters of civil liberties. The lesson, he said, is not only to speak out when something seems unfair or unjust – but also to make sure your kids are aware of the example you are setting.

He also reminded us of the sound advice given to him by former Monitor editor Tom Gerber: Never lose your sense of outrage.

Yesterday’s news – tomorrow!

Alas, the fun of Sunday night was quickly replaced by chagrin at a large error in yesterday morning’s paper: Page A2 from Sunday was reprinted in full on Monday, instead of the page designed specifically for Monday. As they say on The Simpsons, D’oh!

The joy in working for a daily paper is that when you make a mistake one day, you get to start fresh the next day. Trouble is, there are limitless ways to mess up.

You can read the stories actually intended for Page A2 yesterday in the e-edition of Monday’s paper, which you’ll find near the bottom of our homepage at concordmonitor.com. Here’s the short version of what you’ll find there:

∎ In Egypt, top judges suspended work indefinitely after Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi swarmed the highest court Sunday, shouting insults and blocking the judges from entering.

∎ On the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned home triumphantly after his people’s new acceptance by the United Nations.

∎ U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Republicans must accept a tax increase for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.

∎ Syrian warplanes and artillery blasted parts of the capital Damascus and its suburbs Sunday, as rebels tried to push their way into the center of President Bashar Assad’s power base.

∎ Northern California was hit with the third powerful storm in a week.